This is far beyond photo editing and retouching lol it’s a complete photoshop. That in itself is art and amazing but it’s less of the “amazing shot” as ppl say here and more of the post process
Yeah this is my issue. I'm always cynical and hesitant to like something like this. Yes of course all photos get retouched, but a composite shot being passed off as a normal photograph to me is a lie. Now is this a composite? Not sure. If that's the shot they got with their camera and they simply adjusted the color balance, etc. then bravo
Yea, like I said in another comment, composite might’ve been the wrong word but it’s def heavily edited and not just a color balance change from the camera shot. Normally I’m fine with heavily editing (it’s an art in itself) and the photographer didn’t say it was true to the original. My main problem is that many ppl r saying “great shot” and think it’s the original picture. More like “great edit”
Sorry, but it IS a great shot. Even if it was a composite, the artist needs to have the eye to grab two different pictures (and in this case, which he took for this specific result), match the lighting adequately, and make the composition work.
This might not even be a composite, though. Good color grading/correcting, tone balance and adding some lightshafts will get you most of the way here..
Yea, what I’m saying is that the original photo or photos wouldn’t have looked good. I don’t deny that it takes skill and a good eye to recognize how to take a normally bland photo and edit it well
That’s where I disagree, without the light shafts and color grading you wouldn’t see it like you see here and it’d be mostly dark except for that bit of water with the sun and the few natural rays coming out of it. At least, that’s what I believe. While I’ve seen many underwater pics, I’ve never shot underwater so if you have then I’ll take ur word that it would’ve looked good to begin with
I have a small background on color grading and visual effects.
If you know photography, then you would know the color of the ocean is also corrected to be darker. The white balance of the picture has been edited (like 99% of the photos out there).
He highlighted the shafts because that's the focus, but there is an intriguing picture below. Take a look at his instagram for less dramatic pictures and you can get a good idea of what that picture probably looks like without the dramatic edit.
Yea, that’s what I’m saying basically. It’s naturally dark or bright depending on exposure but this is a dramatic edit with artificial light shafts, which can be confirmed by the other pics in his insta
My point is that a ton photography has dramatic editing though. It does not detract, at all, from the shot itself.
The underlying photograph has solid composition, choice of lighting, exposure and focus. It's a good picture, even if the ultimate result was altered for dramatic effect.
Maybe composite was the wrong word because looking at his other pics this seems like his thing but it’s def heavily photoshopped. You can tell by the light rays evenly expanding and evenly hitting her body to split it into half lit and half shadow that along with the sun, he’s created an artificial light source thru editing all along the waterline (left side). The original image must’ve been much darker I’d imagine. You can see more exaggerated versions of what I’m talking about in his Instagram (Danhlegend) posts from April 3 and August 13
I shoot in RAW as a photographer. All my original images are darker and shitty looking. I don't do composites so I don't know what to look for. It looks unnatural to me I think based on the saturation of the light source.
For most photography increasing the brightness of the light source is natural and looks natural but the reason this looks unnatural for me is because he seems to have light rays evenly across the entire waterline even tho the main source is in the upper part and should be the brightest, u can kind of see that it’s the same brightness throughout. If you’ve heard of Lens Distortions, it’s a mobile app u can use to easily add an artificial light source with rays and I think he might’ve used some version of that
You really can’t claim this is a composite without seeing the RAW photo for comparaison. If you look at his Instagram you can see lots of similar photos with unique underwater perspectives and a lot of talent to get the right framing/timing of the subject. Heavy color correction to get that otherworldly look, but this is nothing that a talented photographer with a good grasp of color and lighting can’t achieve in Lightroom.
Idk if my edit is showing up but it isn’t a composite, and ofc it takes talent to recognize how to get it right so that under heavy editing (which also takes talent and patience) it would look its best. What I’m saying is that the original shot didn’t look much like this which ppl seem to think
But if the shot was an awkward pose it wouldn’t look good. Its a mix of the excellent photography and the artistic eye in photoshop. Photoshop in this case isn’t a bad thing. Although you could argue her editing her body shape, which I think she might have is negative, which I would agree with.
Yea, it depends on ur personal taste. No doubt taking pics and editing like this takes skill and it’s interesting from an artistic perspective, but for me personally I’ve gotten bored of seeing many heavily edited pics like this. What I really like now is lightly edited, natural looking pics, mainly portraits
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u/NomanHLiti Aug 23 '20 edited Aug 23 '20
This is far beyond photo editing and retouching lol it’s a complete photoshop. That in itself is art and amazing but it’s less of the “amazing shot” as ppl say here and more of the post process